“This can wait,” the man said.
What was his game? Why so much mistrust? Lienn and her clan had just saved them from a terrible fate.
“I’ve been waiting ten years to meet and talk to another . . . to someone like me,” said the young woman, determined despite the exhaustion burdening her eyes.
“Waiting a few more hours shouldn’t be a problem, then. I want to be there when you talk to him.”
“You’re ridiculous,” said Domino, his face warm, a discomfort falling into the pit of his stomach as he pronounced those words.
“Say that again.”
“You’re ridiculous.” This time the discomfort disappeared and Domino shook his head, a bitter laugh shaking him. He was tired of his uncle’s games. “What do you think they’re gonna do to me?” he asked in a low voice, even though everyone in the tent could hear him without having to pay attention. “Let me talk to her, just for a few minutes. Please, Ero. They saved us. They are taking care of your daughter.”
Ero’s angry expression didn’t change. It also betrayed the pain rising up his leg and making him shake. His foot had been pierced through, and no one had yet examined him.
“Get treated,” Domino said. “In the meantime, I’m going to have a chat with our host. You can indulge yourself when I come back and order me to tell you every single detail. I won’t even complain.”
Ero’s hand then rested on Domino’s shoulder, heavy, close to the wound left by the machete, like a warning. “You don’t know her, you don’t know what she wants, and yet you’re ready to trust her and follow her?”
A bitter taste ran down Domino’s tongue. The taste of betrayal and scorn. It was almost amusing to hear Ero speak of trust. What did he know about trust when he himself had broken his oath by sticking a blade in Domino’s face? Since then, he’d insulted, beaten and humiliated him.
“I’m still with you,” Domino said.
Indeed, despite all that Ero had done to him, he’d remained in Surhok even though the idea of running away with Gus after Mora’s death had crossed his mind more than once. He’d thought that despite his behavior, Ero would protect him. He had, but at what cost? Ero was pulling the strings and manipulating in every way possible the blood oath tying them to each other. There was no trust between them; only a bond of necessity.
Domino continued. “There are nearly a hundred hunters in this camp. You probably know that; you’re not the kind of man to overlook that kind of information. If she wanted to hurt me, or capture me, she would have done it by now. She wouldn’t lower herself to politely asking your permission first.”
The young man’s words hit the nail on the head. Ero let go of him. All anger appeared to have left him. On the surface, Domino knew.
“Go. Then come back here.”
Without showing his relief or impatience, for Ero’s every decision had consequences, Domino took a step back and turned to Lienn. She stared at them, slightly frowning. She took a deep breath and left the infirmary, Domino on her heels. As he passed the exit, the young man refused to look back.
He followed Lienn between the tents, conscious of the glances being cast at him through the warm light of the torches, of the muffled murmurs carried in the wind, and the hunters on the alert waiting for them at the exit of the infirmary. They followed in Lienn and Domino’s footsteps, as intimidating as a whip about to strike.
They entered a small tent, leaving their escort outside. However, the nichans scattered to surround the tent. Their heartbeats were as loud in Domino’s ears as those that echoed in his own chest.
A brazier awaited them inside, along with a huge armchair covered in fur and multicolored fabrics richly decorated with circular patterns. This chair, Domino said to himself, isn’t for just any ass.
When Lienn turned to him and observed him again, he gathered his thoughts and took a deeper breath. It was strange to look this woman in the eyes, to see her soft, tired face, and at the same time to feel the power lurking inside her.
“Thank you,” he said. “Thank you for rescuing us.”
“Your thanks will come after you forgive me.”
“Forgive you for . . . ”
“For almost acting too late.” She filled her lungs, joining her hands in front of her. “My clan has been after these partisans for weeks. They’re organized, with what we believe to be spies scattered throughout the region. We spotted them and were about to attack, hidden away, when you and your family arrived.”
Domino tried not to lose track as the new information got tangled with his growing excitement. “You mean . . . you were already there?”
“I felt you, but I didn’t recognize you. What you are. I’d never felt it in anyone else.”
“I only felt you when you got closer to stop those humans.”
“The transformation heightens all my senses. I found myself as if paralyzed . . . and frightened. The others waited for me to attack. They waited for my orders. And I almost didn’t give this one.”
Resisting the urge to touch his throat, Domino nodded slowly. “It’s a chance the Gods gave me a strong neck.” He managed to smile even though the fate he might have met a few hours earlier hardly amused him.
“I’m sorry,” Lienn said. “I really am.”
“Well, you gave the order. That’s . . . what matters.”
“Yes.”
“If you hadn't arrived . . . ” He paused, aware that he was talking to fill the silence and hide his bitterness. He didn’t want to blame the woman. “I think we both know what would have happened. There is nothing to forgive. Let’s leave it at that.”
“Let’s leave it at that?” she repeated. “What, already? Is that all you have to say to me?” She smiled, a glimmer shining in her eyes, no doubt amused at his confusion.
Domino sighed, laughing in spite of himself. “To tell you the truth, I’m having . . . some difficulty thinking tonight. The rest of the time, I’m less of a fool than I look.”
“You don’t need to justify yourself. Domino.” She said his name as if to get used to it. She moistened her lips. Pretty lips. “How old are you?”
Domino took a moment to think about it. The last two months had passed by at breakneck speed, yet he felt like he’d been traveling for ages.
“Seventeen.”
“You’re younger than you look.”
“So I’ve been told.”
She seemed pensive. “Have you been through your seasons?”
Domino raised his eyebrows. “Is that all you have to say to me?” he repeated, and Lienn lowered her eyes and smiled.
“Forgive me, once again. That was . . . inappropriate.” He couldn’t deny it but kept the comment to himself. The blush on her face was enough to confirm the sincerity of her words. “Where are you from? A much more decent question, right?”
“Right,” Domino smiled. Once again, thinking too much about the creature in front of him, his thoughts became confused. Yet the questions were simple. “I’m from Surhok, a village north of the Osska region. It . . . it seems like the end of the world to me today.”
“Are you hungry?” she asked then.
This was a question he could answer without difficulty. He nodded. “Yes.”
“Calico!” called Lienn out loud, and seconds later, the broad-shouldered woman who had guided them to the infirmary entered the tent. “Somebody bring food to my guest.”
“Yes, ma’am,” nodded Calico, and she came out as quickly as she’d entered.
“We will do the same for your uncle and his daughter once they’ve been treated,” Lienn added to Domino’s address.
“Thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me.”
“One can never be too polite these days.”
“In that case, thank you. You have . . . brightened up my day.”
She seemed serious, always half-caught in her thoughts, maybe even a little intimidated, but Domino laughed anyway. “Brightening up the day” was an expression used sparingl
y among nichans. It was comparing a person to no less than the sun itself, the sun whose light everyone dreamed of seeing again one day—a light so intimately related to the lost Gods.
Such a compliment was strong.
“I could say the same to you,” Domino replied.
“Would you like to sit down?”
“No,” he said, still smiling.
He was exhausted, but his legs, like the rest of his body, were full of energy he wouldn’t have been able to soothe even if he’d tried.
“What makes you smile like that?” she asked.
“I . . . I’m not sure. Exhaustion, maybe, but . . . we met, and I told you I couldn’t transform. Yet here I am. You took me in without proof of what I am.”
“I felt your aura. I still do.”
“I can’t transform.”
His smile was gone. He had to make sure she understood that this situation, though miraculous, wasn’t ideal. It wasn’t just for her that he was repeating those words, but also for himself. He was too enthusiastic. He was in unknown lands, surrounded by strangers. He couldn’t foresee what the future would bring after such a meeting.
But she had felt his aura, his presence.
Lienn quickly looked at him from head to toe. “What’s the reason for that?”
Domino hesitated and opted for a half-truth. The real one was none of her business. “I’ve stopped myself from doing it for many years. For safety’s sake.”
The tent opened, Calico entered. She held in her hands a tray of salted meat and dark bread sprinkled with pumpkin seeds. She placed it by the fire and disappeared again. Domino was hungry, but he ignored the food for a while, sorting out his priorities.
“I want to transform again,” he said. “I practice every day. I know I can do it. With your help—”
“Not with your uncle’s, for sure.”
“Probably not,” Domino conceded after a pause.
“He’s your Unaan,” she said. “But you’re a Liyion, a pure blood. You shouldn’t have a leader. We’re not suited for that.”
The look they exchanged sent a wave of questions through Domino’s head. Then an idea bloomed, watered by the lasting silence. He looked over Lienn’s shoulder. The chair. Or rather, the throne. Had the young woman brought him here for a reason? he asked himself. In an instant he understood what she was keeping quiet while making herself clear.
Lienn said she was the daughter of the chief of the Riskan Clan. The power he felt in her, however, went beyond that of a pure blood meeting another.
She might as well have been the clan leader.
Maybe because they were identical, Domino could sense it. How could it be otherwise? All those hunters were following her, protecting her. The lie she’d told in the infirmary was meant for Ero.
What did she have in mind?
She added, “But my mother is a good leader. She has my absolute trust. We do understand each other.”
The young woman’s gaze intensified, supporting her words as much as what they concealed.
She’d just spoken of trust—as had Ero a few minutes earlier—reminding that her mother was the clan chief.
A lie.
Trust.
The blood oath.
What if Ero, once this conversation over, asked Domino to repeat everything to him. Every word pronounced by Lienn. Domino would say it all, he would have no choice. But none of Lienn’s words betrayed the truth. Her dark eyes staring into his did so, as did the tent in which she had chosen to speak with him in private.
Am I reading too much into this?
“That’s yours?” Domino asked, jerking his chin at the massive chair behind her.
The woman didn’t turn yet answered, “Always. Do you see what I mean?” she asked then and the pieces of the picture fell into place. Lienn was the Unaan of the Riskan Clan.
The message grew inside him. For a reason he didn’t know, Lienn wanted to hide from Ero that she was the leader. The other nichans of the Riskan Clan were probably ordered to keep it a secret.
Ero was right about one thing: Domino couldn’t trust Lienn yet. But she’d just confided in him, either to prove her trust or to test him. Nevertheless, he trusted the young woman more than he trusted Ero, perhaps wrongly so.
He wouldn’t tell his uncle the truth.
“I see,” Domino said.
Lienn nodded. “We’ll arrive in Visha in two days. We’ll get to know each other better then. I guess your Unaan is looking forward to hearing your report. Eat, go back to him. Then get some rest. The journey is still long. In the meantime, I hope your uncle can cool his blood,” Lienn added.
Domino raised an eyebrow with a sigh. “He would tell you that the warmth of his blood is none of your concern.”
“Not on these lands.”
Then she bent, grabbed and offered him the plate of food. He accepted it without taking his eyes off the young woman.
Liyion. That was what she called them both. Pure blood.
Then he realized how little he knew.
X X X
A lone cliff, a drop in the coastline that rose above the dark waves. It could be seen on the horizon from miles away. In the fading light of the day and a drizzle too fresh for the season, Domino stared at it, swallowing back the surge of excitement inviting him to speed up and take a closer look.
The hunting party, their guide, and protégés had been traveling for two days, but their goal was finally in sight.
Visha, the stronghold of the Riskan clan.
A fortress and its stone ramparts were built on the end of the cliff the group was heading to. At the top of the fort was a tower, a lighthouse which, as night approached, didn’t shine. The fort turned its back to the sea, its main gate facing the flat, golden land to the south, but also a town. The city, three to four times larger than Surhok’s heart—as far as Domino could judge from afar—had been built from the valley to the fortress, covering the whole surface of this cliff in length and width, clinging to the steep slope like lichen on the trunk of a tree. Approaching it, one could see houses made of black wood and square stones. Their tiled roofs colored the city a rust hue. In spite of the magnitude of the task in the face of the Corruption Rain, the people of this city worked to keep their roofs clean.
The Uetos had long since stopped bothering about what Ero called “a triviality.” Houses didn’t need to be pretty, only to offer a strong shelter, he used to say.
Well, the Riskan had decided to do both, and why not?
Still led by Lienn, the troop of nichans took a winding path of earth and sand up to the main entrance. From the ramparts, sentries, also dressed in leather and metal armor, opened the gates. On the nearly fifteen-foot-long wooden doors appeared the signs “Sky” and “Sea.” The gusts of wind that swept over the cliff blew ever harder, rushing between the streets of the city, welcoming the newcomers with an iodized kiss.
Lanterns burned all over the city and on every street corner. Around every house, no matter how big or small, a flame guided the inhabitants. The main street glittered, enveloping the newcomers in a welcoming warmth. Pine trees with black thorns, bare roots, and twisted branches grew here and there between the houses.
His family’s saddlebags hanging to his shoulder, Domino shivered. This place left him speechless. The city climbed in front of him, as if to reach the Gods’ realm, adapting to the natural growth of the pines; the thick railings, erected like the bars of a cage, through which the horizon of the raging sea could be admired; the seagulls circling above their heads in a chaotic dance; the gigantic fort of unbreakable walls…
Domino stopped in his tracks again and closed his eyes once the beauty of the place was carved in his mind. He breathed in deeply, nostalgic of the delicious scent of the endless waters. His throat tensed. Tears filled his burning eyes as emotion gripped his heart. He hadn’t seen the sea in eleven years. Just like his mom.
Not now.
He would think of this another day, at a more appropriate time. The
re was too much to focus on. The Riskans, Lienn, Ero . . .
At his feet, bigger than a pheasant, was a blue-plumed peacock with a trail of green and flowery feathers. Domino had heard of it but had never seen one with his own eyes. The majestic animal walked past him as if the fort belonged to it, its beak high, not caring the least about the arriving nichans.
Indeed, too much to focus on, enough to lose track of what was at stake, and to fall into traps.
Domino turned from the colorful bird and embraced the sheer size of the fort looming on the other side of the town. The nichans of yesteryear didn’t build fortresses. By the sight of the stones polished by rains and salty winds, this one was ancient. It probably dated from long before the arrival of the Corruption.
Who owned it before the Riskans moved in? Had they used violence to claim it as their own?
Lost among the crowd of nichans returning from hunting, Domino looked for a familiar face, someone to guide him and answer his questions—Lienn, or even Calico. Now that they’d arrived, he and Ero would soon meet with the Riskan clan council.
“My mother will want details,” Lienn had said that morning, before taking down and leaving their camp for the last time. “She’ll summon the council, and we’ll make decisions quickly.”
“Domino is a Ueto,” Ero had recalled, calm now that Memek was no longer bleeding, even though he’d had to carry her on his back for the rest of the journey.
“I already know that. What are you getting at?”
“He belongs to my clan. We raised him and protected him. Whatever your leader proposes to us, my consent, or my refusal, will count as Domino’s.”
Domino had laughed quietly, disgusted but not surprised by his uncle’s attitude.
Lienn had merely nodded before turning to Domino. “Is that fine with you?”
Domino had smiled so as not to let anger ruin the day’s journey. “You should ask him. He probably knows better than I do.”
Memek had pressed them to leave, wiping away the tension growing between Domino and his Unaan.
The people of Visha didn’t seem to have noticed these strangers coming from the Gods only knew where. They went about their business, welcoming their nichan brothers and sisters back alive with open arms. Despite the commotion, Calico found the Ueto family waiting on the edge of the main street. She led them to a house larger than the Surhok’s auditorium. It had two floors with several rooms, and the humbly furnished ground floor could have contained five huts like the one Domino had built.
The Nichan Smile Page 36